


From the assassins blow/ God save the King

by weirdlyabnormal



Series: Mavin AU [3]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-15 14:15:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5788342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weirdlyabnormal/pseuds/weirdlyabnormal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>May he defend our laws<br/>And ever give us cause<br/>To sing with heart and voice<br/>God save the King<br/>.<br/>Michael and Gavin are both princes in the noble kingdoms of Jones and Ramsey. When Gavin turns of age, he needs a spouse, and Michael is one of those forced to propose by their parents. Michael tries to be indiffrent to the boy, while Gavin slowly finds himself attracted to the curley haired prince with a talent for fighting, but is unable to be diplomatic to save his life.<br/>(underadge since its from the olden times when everyone got married when they were like 12.)<br/>.................DISCONTINUED...............</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Gavin’s chambers were surprisingly homely for somewhere so lonely. The fireplace was always lit, tended to by the chambermaids, and the four poster bed was covered in enough skins that even the deepest winter chills couldn’t penetrate. He had paintings and flowers from far-away lands, rich in colour, and furniture made of a rich mahogany, each costing enough gold coins to feed a lesser man for three years.  
Gavin was the ward of King Geoff the Valiant and Queen Griffion the Bold, and while he was only a ward, he was treated as if he was a son, and was named the heir to the kingdom. His real parents, the Lord and Lady Free, were both dead, his mother in birthing him, and his father in a long-forgotten battle. King Geoff was a good friend of his long-dead father, and took Gavin in as soon as he got the word of his death.  
Gavin knew how lucky he was to have guardians who genuinely cared for him, and both Geoff and Griffion were funny and spontaneous enough to make life exciting and clever enough to secure stability for the kingdom.  
For all these amazing things, being a prince still had it’s drawbacks. He was unable to roam freely without guards, and although he was charming and well loved by his subjects, he was very undiplomatic, having insulted many princesses with his crude humour, and many Lords with his unfiltered tongue. He was bad at fighting, bad at manners, bad at painting, bad at reading the old texts. All he really had going for him was talent in getting whomever he liked to like him, and his natural connection to both horses and children. His subjects loved him, since he was sweet and funny and just, and all could see he would be as good a monarch as Geoff in securing peace, if not better.  
It’s just that, Gavin felt so lonely. However much he tried, none of the court would treat him as a friend, and Geoff and Griffion were so often occupied with matters far more important than an adolescent’s boredom.  
It might change soon though, since Gavin was of age to marry, and there were many kingdoms which wished for an allegiance with theirs. The King and Queen had other children, but all of them were babes, small and young and years away from marriage. Gavin was their beloved heir, and a marriage with him would secure a smaller kingdom safety and a larger one from war.  
Geoff and Griffion knew their ward was gay (god knows there were enough rumours about him and stable boys) and were trying to find a male to promise him to, but not all kingdoms were as accepting as themselves, and so this made the list of possible matches considerably smaller.  
Gavin didn’t mind not getting that much of a choice. He knew whatever the match, it would be designed to help his people.

Prince Michael was the second in line to the Jones throne. He was a good prince: brave, heroic, honourable. The only problem was that he was second in line to an even better prince, and he was unlikely to ever get the chance to reign, so his only real chance of power was a marriage with someone honourable and powerful. Michael didn’t want to get married to some snobby princess or regal lady, (if he was truly honest he didn’t really want to get married at all) but if would secure the kingdom he would do it, however begrudgingly.  
The Jones kingdom was fairly large, but it’s population was small, the majority of it in small farming communities south of the Whitechapel River. Past the river was a few miles of habitable lands, and beyond that was a thick, godless forest, where only the nomads and the Lord and Lady Oakfield (and household) lived.  
Michael's parents had seven children, and the five girls were betrothed already to nobel men of neighbouring lands, the youngest at two and the oldest eleven. As soon as she saw red a wedding was to be planned between her and Lord Risinger, a young man from the kingdom once over. Even though his siblings were all planning to make strong political alliances, naturally some threats remained, so Michael still had heirs and royalty to choose from.  
Michael was practicing his sword work with Sir Alison in the yard when he heard the news of the Ramsey Kingdom. Their kingdom was known for being incredibly rich and powerful, as well as the fine silk produced in the small picturesque farming communities. The Ramsey family themselves were notoriously hard to marry into, the family tradition being to wait until the children were at least sixteen to get married, so whenever a child became of age it caused a large frenzy of proposals. Usually Michael wouldn’t mind being used as a pawn and proposing, except this time it was a _prince_ who was asking for another _male_ to marry. The scandal- he thought- would be too much for his parents- but he was wrong. It wasn’t even dinner time before he was informed he had offered his hand to the Prince.  
Michael had always assumed he would marry some noble lady, and have a small army of children with someone he didn’t even like. At least now, if he was chosen, no one would know if he had any sexual relations with them.

He- and all the other possibilities- had been invited to attend the Ramsey’s Annual ball. Michael had been to every one of these balls since he was nine, but this was the first time he would be an actual honoured guest to be acknowledged by the hosts. He got his finest silks washed with his best oils, and his mother had arranged for the Jones coat of arms to be re-embroidered into his tunic. He was far more excited than he thought he would be, although he had been to many balls and had had to charm many suitors before. Maybe it was because it was a boy he had to impress this time, or maybe it was because, if he was successful, he would be so incredibly useful for the Jones.  
Or maybe because this was a chance to prove he was as useful as his brother.  
To prove that he meant something.


	2. The stinging wind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'm planning on updating this either weekly or fortnightly depending on how much schoolwork and revision I have (I'm in GCSE year so everythings a bit mental)

The Carriage arrived at around seven, and Michael and his party (his mother, older brother, littlest sister and a collection of servants) collected themselves to leave for the Ramsey kingdom. Michael was to be a honoured guest, so he was fussed over by his Mother and her Ladies in Waiting. His clothing was impeccable: bleached white trousers; a deep maroon tunic ending mid thigh with the family crest embroidered over his heart; and a short fur-lined cloak. He had bathed the night before, and smelled of the exotic oils his father had gifted him with in order to impress the Prince, while his sword and dagger had both been polished, the silver hilts reflecting out little light beams, pulling attention to the emerald jewel sitting proudly at the end of them. 

 

They were spending a night at the neighbouring kingdom, the Tuggey Realm, to pick up Princess Lindsay before continuing onto the Ramsey’s. Michael and Lindsay had been friends a long time, since they were small children, and she would have been the one girl he would’ve actually considered marrying without his parents intervention, but alas, one of his younger sisters was already engaged to one of her brothers, so it would have been a waste of a union. They still kept in correspondence, even though her husband was overly jealous of her talking to other men.

 

The journey was predicted to take two days if they made good speed, and they would then be spending a week in the Ramsey capital before returning home. As soon as the trunks had been loaded onto the carriage, and the ladies sat in it, the group began its movement. Michael and his brother were riding horseback, along with the servants and Lord Alison, so there would be enough room for the princess to sit in the carriage with their mother and sister. They had been traveling for around five hours before they reached the castle they would be sleeping in.

  
  


Lindsay and her family had gathered in the main entrance-hall to greet the party. Lindsay had grown up since the summer Michael had last seen her, her hair stylised in a plait instead of the loose curls she used to be recognisable for, and her dress far more formal than anything he had ever seen her in before: lilac with a tight bodice and long skirt piece. Lindsay was married to a rich Lord, who was never around in the physical sense, but controlled pretty much every aspect of her life, including, it seemed, her attire.

 

Nethertheless, as soon as they got alone together she was back to the happy-go-lucky girl Michael remembered, racing through the castle grounds as the sun began to set, hair getting caught in the twigs of the grape vines, pulling out strands of her intricate plait. As they ambled back to the castle dining room, with Lindsay fixing her hair, they began to talk about the prince Michael was going to (hopefully) win the hand of. Lindsay had heard more about him than Michael, and filled him in with some of the rumours she had heard about him: his passion for horses; how loved he was by subjects; the time he accidently knocked a pitcher of lemonade over onto Baroness Townheart; and, most of all, she raved about how handsome he was. She could see how worried Michael was, and was trying to comfort him, but it felt hollow, to both of them. The thing is, Michael just didn’t like boys, no matter if they were a god-damned prince or not, and at a fundamental level he knew it was unfair that he was being forced into this. 

But he had to do it, and both he and Lindsay knew it.

* * *

Gavin’s excitement was slowly turning into fear. In a few days, the guests would begin arriving for the annual ball, and within them would be his future husband. Geoff and Griffion had been fawning over him, filling him in on his choices. The young Lord Miles Luna, the Prince Kerry Shawcross from the isle of Keage and Prince Michael Jones. All of them were rich and powerful, and all had armies of skilled men behind them, so they would be good matches for the kingdom.

 

The great hall’s banners were being re-bleached the startling white colour of the Ramsey house, and the wine was being ported around the hall in huge wooden barrels. The noise and chatter filled the castle rooms, and the smell of roasted meats was encasing every corridor. Some of the guests were to arrive tonight, but more were arriving the next day, and even more the next. The ball was in three nights, and the nobles from the kingdoms who had signed the White Poppy peace agreement were going to be staying various amounts of time in the castle. It was likely that this would be some of Gavin’s last moments to be able to ride by himself in a very long time, so he tired himself out, galloping around the grounds, collecting flowers for his guardians littlest children. He put these flowers in his breast pocket, meaning to give them later.

 

His guardians had three other children: Barbara (6), Jordan (4) and Ashley (3). All of them spent a lot of their time playing in the grounds, and Gavin was often tasked with supervising them. They all treated him as a brother, even Barbara who knew what the word ‘ward’ meant. They would all be raised as impeccable young royalty, all kind and loving. Geoff and Griffion were good at that.

 

Gavin put his horse away in the stables and stole up to his chambers to get ready for dinner. Two of his possible husbands were to arrive tonight, Lord Miles and Prince Kerry, and he wanted to look as smart and handsome as he could muster. All the nobles would be wearing formal outfits, so Gavin decided his tiara would have to be worn (all royal princes and princesses had them, commonly in the households family colours. Gavin’s was an almost white platinum with small encrusted sapphires.)

 

When the guests began to arrive, he was called to the large of the two dining rooms, where the servants had laid a table of gleaming white. Lord Miles and Prince Kerry had already arrived when he got to the dining room, and they talked for a while. Gavin tried to be as charming as he could, and he liked both of them, but he couldn’t see himself marrying either. Still, it was nice to have people his age to joke with over dinner. His little siblings went out to play with the other little children in the second largest drawing room, and Gavin, Miles and Kerry all went to supervise.

 

They all joked and played with the children, Gavin picking Ashley up a hugging her when Jordan hit her a bit too hard, and Barbara quizzing Miles and Kerry about the lands from which they came. Gavin could feel himself making stronger bonds with the boys, but he just couldn’t picture the idea of marrying either. It was rather obvious they had been told to flirt with him, the parents at supper listening in to their conversations and whispering in their ears, but neither were doing it naturally, and Gavin couldn’t help but think neither of them actually wanted to marry him. If there was one thing Gavin wanted from his husband, it was that they actually wished to marry him. The marriage was for political reasons, yes, but that didn’t mean they had to be barbarians about it. 

 

Still, if it was decided that he should marry one of them, at least they would have fun, and be friends, even if they weren’t in love.

 

This seemingly just left Prince Michael. Gavin knew him in passing; he had heard his name somewhere before, and he had probably been instructed to make acquaintances with him at some point, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember anything about him. He had seen a painting of him, and he seemed decent looking, but the canvas can lie, and an artist be kind, and he could turn up and be the most hideous boy Gavin could have ever imagined.

 

The only upside, he supposed, was that Michael was said to be a friend of Princess Lindsay, and Gavin knew that she was an amazing judge of character- and far more intelligent than her husband. 

If Lindsay liked him, it had to say something about the boy.

 

The next morning, Gavin decided to take his siblings riding, since they were to be cooped up inside for the next week or so. Ashley and Jordan rode with him on his horse, and Barbara rode by herself on her pony. They headed down the country lanes and through the small splattering of trees just outside the estate to ride off down the Candlewick Way. Candlewick way was the only road wide enough to take a carriage along it which led to the castle, and had tall hedges either side. 

 

They had been riding for a while when it happened. Barbara's horse bucked- sending her headfirst onto the dirt track, before startling itself and stomping on her leg. She was unconcious, and Ashley and Jordan both started to cry at the figure and, as Gavin tried to pick her up, he knew there was no way he could carry all three of them back to castle. They would be stuck here until someone passed by. Gavin stopped the bleeding of her leg and head, and soon after she re-awoke, but she was dizzy and ill, and vomiting every few minutes. She needed help, and she needed it fast. 

* * *

Michael and the party had set off to cross the border to the Ramsey kingdom. Lindsay had insisted on taking her pony, so as to make extra room for her mother and baby sister in the carriage. She and Michael gallopped up ahead of the rest of the group, singing into the stinging wind, Lindsay's hair wild and flailing behind her. She was wearing a far more practical dress today- a loose fitted pale blue garment and a deep blue travelling cloak. The Tuggey colours were lilac and blue, and their house crest a hummingbird, while Michaels were silver and a rich green, and his house crest a Lynx. His tiara was silver with emeralds and jades producing an intricate design, and Lindsay was a light gold with small fragments of garnets and one, large sapphire in the middle. Both of these were wrapped up in fine silks, and placed carefully inside a small trunk in the protection of Michael's mother.

 

Lindsay’s mother had given permission for them both to ride ahead, so they may arrive quicker at the castle. They crossed the border with little trouble, and soon fell into the steady silence of two friends racing towards the future. Michael would hate to admit it, but this was probably one of his last chances to get married- he would not be young forever- and so, however angry he was at his parents for forcing him into this, he was not going to cause a fuss, and he was going to try as hard as he could to get the prince to at least like him.

 

It was mid afternoon by the time they got anywhere near the castle, they had stopped halfway to buy some flowers from a man, and had ended up having tea with him. As they were riding along Candlewick Way, they saw the figure of two horses, and next to them a man, with several smaller figures. When the man saw him, he flagged them down:

 

“HELP, PLEASE SIR I BEG OF YOU I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE”

 

Michael slowed down. It was a young man, holding a small child and with two even younger children clinging to his legs, both of them crying and sobbing.

The man was shaking as tears overfilled from his eyes. The girl in his arms had a gash in her forhead, and her eyes were fluttering open and closed.

 

"Please sir, please, she needs help, please I beg of you".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave me any comments or ideas for the story as I'm a little bit iffy about the plot right now and kinda need some ideas to work with!


End file.
